Rapid Fire July 24, 2012: Trade vs. Cooperation

Following an assignment handed to him by his boss last month, US deputy secretary of defense Ashton Carter said India is a top priority for defense exports. India is interested in cooperation rather than mere trade. Carter added:

“Practically, we want to be India’s highest-quality and most trusted long-term supplier of technology, not a simple seller of goods, in such fields as maritime domain awareness, counterterrorism, and many others.”

Iraq, after the departure of US troops last year, is seeing a resurgence in violence with more than 100 dead in bombings and shootings yesterday: NYT | WaPo.

The Pentagon doesn’t have high hopes of finding someone to lead Air Force acquisition before the presidential election.

The US Naval Criminal Investigative Service has arrested for arson Casey James Fury, a 24-year-old civilian worker at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine where a very expensive fire burned USS Miami.

Sagem and Thales finalized their optronics joint venture. They’re equal partner in the new entity called Optrolead.

Gencorp confirmed that it is buying Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne from United Technologies Corporation for $550 million.

Lockheed Martin announced sales growing by 3.5% to $11.9B for their Q2 2012. Information Systems & Global Solutions was the only segment that did not grow this quarter, mostly because of the cessation of the Airborne Maritime Fixed Station Joint Tactical Radio System program.

Lockheed Martin consultant Loren Thompson on Raytheon: “[It] has found its sweet spot, and they don’t intend to ruin a good thing.”